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Disability and the Divide
This page was written by Ellen MacInnis How Disability Intersects with the Digital Divide A 2004 study published by the Kaiser Family Foundation discusses how children experiencing the digital divide accessed technology. 17% of children without disabilities had accessed the internet through their public library, compared to 28% of children with disabilities.Children, the Digital Divide, and Federal Policy This could indicate an overlap between disability and socioeconomic issues when considering accessibility. For many lower class patrons, libraries - particularly public libraries - may be their only opportunity for free internet and other informational resources. Disability often puts a financial strain on individuals and their families which in turn limits what technologies are readily accessible and the amount of free time needed to learn technological skills. A 2012 Pew internet report states that 27% of disabled American adults are "significantly less likely" to go online than their non-disabled counterparts. 2% of disabled American adults have a disability or illness which makes it difficult or impossible to use the internet at all.Digital Differences, Pew Research Center Another report from the same year acknowledges the growing trend of older adults accessing the internet.Older adults and internet use, Pew Research Center As of April 2012, over half of American adults aged 65 and older were online. By extension, this means that more internet users than ever before have disabilities related to aging, from arthritis to failing eyesight to Alzheimer's. How to Erase the Disability Digital Divide One way of understanding disability issues is through the social model of disability.What is the social model of disability? Scope.org.uk Using this model, disability becomes a problem created and sustained by societal barriers, rather than through physical, emotional, or intellectual limitations of individuals. This lies in contrast to the medical model of disability, which solves issues of accessibility through "fixing" disabled individuals. For example, the video "How would you? A glimpse at disability and the digital divide" (featured as the first video on this page) explores the difficulty of disabled users to access the internet even with technological aids.How would you? A glimpse at disability and the digital divide, by Terri Mason Many of these devices cost a significant amount of money, such as a USB module that transforms the joysticks on electric wheelchairs into a computer mouse for $900. Other adaptive tools, such as voice-recognition software, are often faulty and frustrating to use. The medical model of disability might attempt to "correct" the impairment which requires the use of such technology whereas the social model of disability would encourage the development of better, more accurate adaptive tools available at lower costs. A 2011 report from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia explores progress in adapting patient health records for disabled users. Dean Karavite, speaking on behalf of the Center for Biomedical Informatics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, reports an overall lack of research into the accessibility of online health records despite the fact 20% of Americans are in some way disabled. Grant To Bridge Digital Divide for People with Disabilities (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) More information about this project may be found at the National Center for Accessible Media website.Accessible Designs for Personal Health Records, National Center for Accessible Media References